Count Down 100 Movies from 2013 (Multiple users) Tele page 20

[Dementeleus]

9. Captain Phillips

Like many of Greengrass’ movies, CAPTAIN PHILLIPS is about a real-life event, and (also like many of his movies) it’s surprisingly suspenseful and intense. In PHILLIPS, there’s a great focus on procedure, on the little details taken from the actual events that happened, the seemingly dry moments without action. Not incidentally, these are the sorts of details that most action/thrillers ignore. But Greengrass’ great insight is that these details bring moments to life, they make a movie stop feeling like a movie, and start feeling like real life. The power of CAPTAIN PHILLIPS is based in large part on three things: Greengrass’ dedication to procedure and the two major performances that anchor the story — Hanks’ captain and Abdi’s pirate. It’s riveting stuff and the conclusion hits you emotionally and hard. An excellent and fascinating movie.

Edited February 9, 2014 by Telemachos

[Dementeleus]

8. 12 Years a Slave

In its broad strokes, there are aspects of 12 YEARS that we, the audience, might take in too easily; these are the plot points that’re so rooted in stereotype and cliche that it’s potentially hard to move past them to the actual story. (How many movies have we seen with the evil overseer, the vile plantation owner, the noble abolitionist?) 12 YEARS is a very conventional movie in terms of narrative, and McQueen doesn’t try any sort of clever non-linear storytelling. But the movie’s strength is how it reminds us how ugly and horrific slavery actually was (and is), and how it deeply corrupts on all levels, from the plantation owner himself, to his wife and family, to his overseers, even to the slaves themselves. As a slave, when your life is reduced to simply trying to survive and stave off punishment, you’re robbed of humanity to your fellow slaves, and McQueen nails this point home hard. There’s really only one misstep here, and that was the decision to have Brad Pitt play a small (but pivotal) role. There’s nothing wrong with his performance, but the mere fact that Brad Pitt randomly shows up (and “saves the day”, no less) is highly distracting. Still, that’s a minor point, and it doesn’t take away from the essential power of the movie or the intense emotional ending.

Edited February 9, 2014 by Telemachos

[tawasal]

So far great movies in your top 10.

[Kvikk Lunsj]

7 movies left.

[tawasal]

I enjoyed Nebraska far better than Philomena. 

[Dementeleus]

I enjoyed Nebraska far better than Philomena. 

 

Still haven't seen it. FWIW, FROZEN would've made it onto the list around 11 or so.

 

7. The Act of Killing

 

 

Almost indescribable, and upon hearing the concept, it’s a complete turnoff. Why would you want to watch a documentary about mass-murder and genocide? That sounds bleak and unwatchable and the sort of thing you might see in a history class. And yet, this is more than a watchable movie… you can’t take your eyes off it. There are moments of tremendous tragedy, there are moments that’re actually hilarious. There are moments that seem taken from a Sasha Baron Cohen mockumentary except this is real. There are musical numbers. People dress up in drag. On any number of levels, this is fascinating and deeply insightful stuff: about our capacity as humans to demonize each other in order to kill, about our ability to compartmentalize evil, our self-deception, the power of movies and the performing arts, and how sometimes it’s the oddest things that cause self-realization. Watch this movie. You’ve never seen anything like it, and you won’t regret it.

[tawasal]

Still haven't seen it. FWIW, FROZEN would've made it onto the list around 11 or so.

 

It's suprisingly awesome and it's great to have 2 great movies lead by old people, kinda of. 

I would give Best actor to BD and Best actress to JD. 

[Dementeleus]

6. Upstream Color

 

 

A near pitch-perfect tone poem. It’s almost impossible to describe, and even then I’d only be scratching the surface of what I got out of the movie — your takeaway might be completely different. It’s probably not a good idea to be literal about it, but basically this is a story of a young women who gets abducted, forced to take a strange drug derived from a peculiar blue orchid, and forced to give over all her assets to a mysterious stranger. Afterwards, as she tries to piece her life back together, she starts to form a friendship with a man who may have had the same thing happen to him. It’s abstract and essentially an experimental film, but like the best of them, what seems to be random images, colors, framing, and cutting start forming a pattern that slowly unfolds into some sense of meaning. Beautiful stuff, and a great palate cleanser for Hollywood movies in general.

[tawasal]

I am seen this one tonight. 

[Dementeleus]

5. Gravity

 

 

What else needs to be said about this? It’s complete immersion, a movie you experience rather than watch. It’s got more depth than its critics grant it, and though the various backstory elements are simple and stereotypical, they’re also a key emotional connection and the basis for the entire thematic point of rebirth. (As a twenty-something, the back story would’ve bothered me more; as a father, it brought me to tears.) Cuaron has made an incredibly complicated and technically insane movie seem simple and intuitive, and the result is a towering piece of 21st century filmmaking.

[Dementeleus]

4. Her

 

 

The concept of HER sounds like a short story at best, and maybe the punchline to a joke at worst. It’s to Spike Jonze’s great credit that it transcends all of that and becomes something deeply special: a science-fiction film that doesn’t worry about being a utopia or dystopia, that doesn’t concern itself with technology, but is about people — more than that, about sentient beings — seeking love and meaning in relationships; how we fall into love, out of love, and move through our lives in a delicate interaction with everyone around us? Do we truly know and understand what our soul mates feel? At any given moment, maybe yes and maybe no. Jonze is way too smart to fall into simple or pat answers here, and the result is a rich and complex movie that’s deeply moving on many levels. The performances are all exemplary (though Phoenix is the standout in a very difficult role). As a side note, as a science fiction fan it’s gratifying to see a movie that follows a hypothetical situation to its natural conclusion.

[Goffe]

putting Europa Report, Drug War and Upstream Color on my 2013 watchlist 

[baumer]

Damn!  Has everyone seen The Act of Killing but me?

 

And Gatsby was horrible.  It's on my worst films of the year list.  

[Dementeleus]

Baumer, you're gonna love this one.

 

3. Inside Llewyn Davis

 

 

On the surface, this is bleak, depressing and pointless. Underneath, it’s rich, vibrant, and layered. Anyone who’s ever had any creative aspirations can sympathize with Llewyn: we’ve all had our various dreams that we pursued and for almost all of us, we had to abandon them at some point (even the luckiest of us've only found careers in somewhat-related fields). What I loved about LLEWYN was that he was kind of an asshole, but not an unrepentant, unaware sort of asshole. Frequently, two or three scenes later (or even just after he’s lashed out), you can see him realizing that he’s fucked up (again). In other words, he’s a fully believable character. The Coens don’t go for easy body-blows against him — for example, they could’ve easily made the film much funnier if he sucked as a musician. But clearly he’s very talented; he’s also fully aware of this, yet aware that his dreams are slipping away. And it’s that inner struggle that’s so fascinating. Elliptically, by the end we return to the beginning, and although we have hints of where Llewyn’s life is headed, we don’t know for sure.

 

And the cat is great too.

Edited February 10, 2014 by Telemachos

[baumer]

I don't get the Llewyn Davis love.

[The Panda]

I don't get the Llewyn Davis love.

 

It's a fantastic movie.

[baumer]

It's a fantastic movie.

 

It's a boring silly movie.

[Dementeleus]

2. All is Lost

 

 

This is filmmaking at its simplest, purest, and most essential. It’s very nearly a silent movie, with only a handful of voice-over lines at the beginning, a brief distress call partway through, and one iconic, screamed line that’s pitch-perfect. Without dialogue to drive our understanding of the main character (simply credited as “Our Man”) we’re forced to carefully focus on visual information, and it’s surprising how complete an understanding we have of him at the end. This is a man who’s lived a successful life, someone who’s used to taking charge and having things done the way he wants. Someone who values his time alone, yet clearly has a family of sorts back home. He’s pragmatic, confident, and skilled (albeit clearly an amateur, not a professional sailer). Yet nature slowly strips all of that away from, until the end — despite all his skills at survival, he’s on the brink of death. Will he deal with that total moment the same way he did with his various accidents and turmoil? Redford turns in an amazing performance, the direction by J.C. Chandor is assured and confident and nigh-brilliant. This is the movie you want to see if you thought GRAVITY was aimed too much at mainstream audiences.

[baumer]

Good number two choice.  Too high for me, but it is in my top 20 of the year.

[baumer]

Ok Mr. Hollywood, what's your number one?